Letters to the editor for the week of November 21st

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Safety first

The number of road accidents I have either witnessed or been involved in over the past couple months have been appalling! Just last week, I was victim to a road accident in which I was cycling along a bike lane and was hit by a car, ending with the car running over my arm. Heading up to Whistler the weekend after Thanksgiving, I was witness to the horrific road accident that involved a logging truck toppling over on the Highway, crushing and killing a motorcyclist. Witnessing the bloody aftermath of that accident — and seeing how long it took for the Highway to be cleared again — makes me seriously think about the policies and procedures that are set in place to prevent accidents such as this, and in the case that accidents do occur, that are intended to deal with situations efficiently. Now that ski season is here, everybody accessing the beautiful Whistler area needs to ensure that they are driving safely and being aware of their surroundings. Let's enjoy the winter season and the playground around us instead of suffering through horrific road accidents throughout the winter.

Safety first!

Aileen McKeown

Vancouver

Forestry weighs in on logging accident

On Saturday October 19, 2013 at Whistler, BC there was a tragic incident involving a logging truck and motorcyclist on Highway 99. The logging truck lost its load of logs and partially flipped over. The motorcyclist was fatally injured as a result of this incident. The truck driver was injured, treated in hospital and is expected to make a recovery.

Any traffic fatality is a tragedy and our heartfelt condolences go out to the families and friends of those killed and injured by this incident. Forest workers and their families share these same roads daily to go about our day-to-day lives.

This incident has apparently occurred despite the systems in place to help ensure the safe use of the highway for all users. These systems include driver training, written safe work procedures, commercial vehicle inspections, mechanical checks, and highway enforcement. We trust that all persons involved in this incident will cooperate fully with the investigation to determine the causes and any contributing factors so that incidents like this can be prevented in the future.

Society member companies are reviewing their loading, hauling, mechanical inspection and maintenance procedures to see where there are areas for improvement. Horrific as this incident was, it is our responsibility to learn from it so as to help prevent future incidents.

Forestry is a major industry, supporting Sea to Sky communities now and in the future. Our objective is to minimize the risk to our workers and the public through safe working procedures on our areas operation that include roads and highways.